Introduction to Conversations with Lawyer & Politician Peter Sule about a Blueprint for South Sudan

“The present catastrophic crisis in our country has exposed in ugly details the monumental wrongs which afflicted our country long before the events of the 15th of December 2013,” began a Preamble to a position paper by Lawyer and Politician Peter Sule. It is the official position of his United Democratic Front Party (UDF) about how to resolve the ongoing carnage in South Sudan.

However, the position epitomizes what the majority of the masses of South Sudan are thinking but unable to verbalize because of fear.

In conversations with Lawyer and Politician Peter Sule about a Blueprint for South Sudan, we unveil the issues that have brought South Sudan to the brink of total collapse, along with solutions to the issues.

Conversations with Lawyer and Politician Peter Sule will include in depth discussions about the best system of government suitable for meeting the aspirations of the multi-ethnic groups of South Sudan in order to avoid future conflicts. These conversations will undoubtedly be very difficult but they are necessary.

To set the stage for the conversations, this is what Lawyer and Politician Peter Sule had to say in response to a question postulated to him about a reference he made to the great mistakes of miss-governance and the excessive crimes committed against the people of South Sudan in his position paper.

He was referring in part to the conflict between Salva Kiir Mayardit and Riek Machar and their cohorts which degenerated into the mass murder of innocent South Sudanese from the Nuer tribe under the direction of Salva Kiir Mayardit beginning on December 15, 2013.

“To understand this piece properly, you have to view it from a historical perspective”, began Lawyer and Politician Peter Sule before elaborating.

“During a more than fifty-year freedom struggle, our fore-fathers and ourselves had committed ourselves to a struggle for liberty, dignity and the welfare of our people. This in a nutshell is the concise vision statement of the broad objectives and aims of our struggle against a savage and brutal Arab imperialist dictator.

However, immediately after the SPLM/SPLA took control of the reins of power in the South, it shocked the people by what it really was: a dictatorial, brutal, kleptocratically corrupt and bankrupt system of government.

Soon enough the SPLM elites began to make themselves rich by looting state coffers. Tribal centers of power started to be formed at the top echelons of government, critics were arrested and many disappeared and their property coveted.

The rule of law and due process were thrown to the rubbish bins. Nobody is beyond the gaze of the ubiquitous Military Intelligence or safe from the nightly break-ins, armed robberies and killings every night.

Life and property were no longer sanctified and inviolable, leave alone being considered as indefeasible rights. Entire villages and tribal lands were violently displaced and the villagers terrorized, shot and chased away from their ancestral lands which were seized by the SPLM/SPLA elites and the armies of commanders, officers and men who quickly built tribal colonies for themselves in the looted lands.

They were joined by many others migrating en mass into cities like Juba, Wau, Yei, Kaya and Nimule, to mention only a few; displacing the original inhabitants in the process!

The stand of the Murle tribe was a case in place against an attempted brutal genocidal displacement by the combined forces of Dinka and Nuer.

The Judiciary is no longer independent and impartial, filled with tribesmen most of whom are unqualified and all lacking capacity and training. Judges take sides against the victims whose lands and houses are looted by the gun totting soldiers.

The Civil Service is almost wholly recruited according to tribal considerations with the senior positions filled by men ill-qualified for their posts.

If these are not crimes against the people of South Sudan, then what are they? Indeed, they are not only crimes against the majority of South Sudanese, but are crimes committed against the many innocent Dinka and Nuer in whose names they are committed.”

In conversations with Lawyer and Politician Peter Sule about a Blueprint for South Sudan, the following themes will be highlighted among many.

Mis-governance and excessive crimes committed against the people of South Sudan including but not limited to torture, looting state coffers, robbing properties of minority ethnic groups, murder, rape and maiming with unprecedented and imponderable impunity.

Lawlessness.

The need for a national army as opposed to the tribal armies that have currently divided the country into two warring camps of Dinka vs Nuer.

Misusing the most dire coercive machinery of the state leading to grievances that will undoubtedly boil over and explode the same way they did on December 15, 2013.

Lack of confidence in the government and total erosion of trust among the people of South Sudan.

The threat of total anarchy when communities such as the communities of the Equatoria region of South Sudan realize that their survival, and in fact their very existence in the country is in peril, unless they also move into the business of acquiring and possessing arms like the others, for their own self defense.

Lawyer and Politician Peter Sule has been consistent in asserting that the current calamitous ethnic war with its dire consequences felt country-wide, together with the mistakes which had led to it, have transcended and gone beyond its main architects: Kiir and Machar; that it has now become a national concern and not limited only to Kiir and Machar.

Lawyer and Politician Peter Sule has asserted that the ethnic war that has pitted South Sudan’s Dinka tribe against the Nuer tribe can be brought to an end through an all-inclusive negotiated settlement by all South Sudanese stakeholders on the basis of a Federal system of governance, founded upon the values of justice, democracy, good governance, respect for fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual, mutual understanding and tolerance of the diversity within the realities of South Sudan.

Stay tuned for more conversations with Lawyer and Politician Peter Sule about a Blueprint for South Sudan and becoming fully involved in crafting the best “system” of government for South Sudan which will satisfy and live up to the aspirations of the people of South Sudan in the share of power and wealth and the proper governance of their own states, in the long run.

Conversations are intended for all South Sudanese and not just Kiir and Machar’s SPLM in government and SPLM in opposition as they want to have it.

A DOWNLOADABLE AUDIO VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE IS AVAILABLE AT:

http://www.savesouthsudan.com/politician-peter-sule-speaks.html

Margaret Akulia is co-author of the sequel Idi Amin: Hero or Villain? His son Jaffar Amin and other people speak. She brings to the South Sudan dialogue a multidisciplinary professional background including but not limited to “grassroots activism”.

Additional information at:

https://travellinglearningcircles.com/Save_South_Sudan.html AND http://www.savesouthsudan.com/home.html

24 Comments

Margaret; The death of Nuer rebels in Juba is the only killing you know? While the revenge killing by Nuer in Jonglei’s Bor, Upper Nile’s Malakal and other Dinka territories is non-existence? Well; that solves our problem. Remember; Yambio, Yei, Torit will never be immune to carnage! I don’t think anyone would dare to mention any of it except the killing of rebels in Juba.
Given the hatred that has already been planted by you here on this site; massacre will happened. It will not be the question how but when! You may be far away in foreign countries but one day we will taste the pills of our writings! By the time everyone and every region have a dose of carnage in South Sudan; then it will be the time we will all come to our senses.

Dear Makur, this is only a brief introduction to a sequence of conversations that will include conversations on revenge killings by Nuer. The foremost objective is to put a stop to the carnage in South Sudan by allowing ALL the people of South Sudan to talk about their pain while mapping a peaceful and better way forward. The emphasis is on ALL because it is critical for EVERYONE to own the solution. In my opinion, the massacre you are preaching will be averted if EVERYONE is allowed to participate in finding a solution to the problem of South Sudan. I have absolutely no reason to plant hatred because hatred is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. It only breeds death and destruction. That said, I thank you for your post because it is in line with the premise that ALL opinions will be taken into account provided they edify ALL the people of South Sudan and not a select few!
M. Akulia

Your response to Makur is a great change of heart…. No ridiculing, no belittling, no usual verbal abuse…..What leap from being unbearable to likable! I still do hold my reservations in regards to your efforts in marketing “Bari Idol”.

What you refer to as “a great change of heart” is my skill at facilitating solution oriented group discussions knowing full well that there will always be cantankerous individuals in the group needing to be “shouted down” or “booted out” for the group to achieve its goals. We do need to focus on solutions now so if you have a better Blueprint than Lawyer and Politician Peter Sule’s, bring it forward for discussion or offer constructive criticism instead of destructive criticism(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructive_criticism AND http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/destructive_criticism)!
M. Akulia

Margret,
My solution is stop the war first by reaching peace deal or defeat the rebellion militarily (please don’t tell me it’s not possible as it happened before), oust Kiir second, put a brake to Equatorians hate-speech machinery and shop around for fresh blood that would lead the country. Recycling “Bari Idol” is not on the table because there is no much different between him and Dinka Idol or Nuer Idol. Believe me you are old enough and knowledgeable to lead this country better than your idol, if only you stay clear of hate speech, and looking down other people. Few words in your response have scared the hell out of me {cantankerous individuals, shutdown, booted out}. Come on ….You write the whole article criticising others yet you can’t handle short comments that don’t fit into your liking! It is obvious ….Yea-sayer I love you, followed by kisses, hugs and other good wishes …..Naysayers” Get The Hell Out Of Here” …Ok, I will boot you out, or shut you down ….You are cantankerous individual!?…… Bye Freedom of Speech…. I am a simple Bari Lady….This is the Scary world of Sherlock Holmes!? A case of a Freedom Fighter turns Dictator! A false Hope of Change! ? Sorry I get to get out of here or I’ll be booted out again!

Long Ranger
If you believe that the government was killing 8 year old Nuer children on December 15, 16, 2013 in Juba; then what make you think is preventing the government now from killing the same 8 year old Nuer children all in and around Juba today? Or are you telling everybody here that there are no Nuer living in Juba that the government can killed? How ludicrous do you have to be think that way?

This nation of ours will not be in peace if we do not sift the truth from falsity and award the doer accordingly. In other words, if you commit a crime, you must own it without meddling other people into it. Whoever caused the incident of December 15 is entirely responsible for all the death of our innocent people of all walks of life. For the last 9 or so years, nobody was ever killed in Bentiu, Akobo, Bor, Malakal just because they happens to be from certain ethnic group. This targeted killing come into play when it was shown to us by Salva Kiir in Juba when he unleashed his tribal militias on innocent Nuer civilians whom you classified as Rebels (Calling them rebels is another book of it owns).

For instance, when SPLM split in 1991, our innocent Bor civilians were murdered and as a result the Nuers who remain with SPLM were subjected to the same carnage as happen in Bor. This was under the leadership of Dr. John Garang. If you were to be the judge, who is to blame for this problem of 1991? Would you blame both Dr. Machar and Dr. Garang or would you blame Dr. Machar for it? To me Dr. Machar owns it all despite the killing of innocent Nuers soliders who were murdered by Dinka in various places. I believe it was why Dr. Machar apologized to Bor community. By the same token, had Kiir not unleashed his privately trained militias on Nuers innocent civilians, the revenge killing in all Nuers controlled areas wouldn’t have happened. From my personal standpoint, Salva Kiir owns this package of December 2013 just as Dr. Machar owns the package of 1991.

I can agree with you on your comment to author Margaret Akulia when said,she did not say something on other places where a rebel forces were done the pogroms in Bor,in Malaka,in Akobo,in Bentiu and many more unmention.Instead she was dwelled on December 15,2013 in Juba episode which was carried alone on specific tribe in Nuer people alone in the capital city in Juba.

Okay,I come to you on your carnage matter in other places you had mentioned such as Yambio,Yei,and Torit,Honestly speaking,I wants to tell to you that there going be no any carnage to take places in those places at all! Believe me! Those places and otherr as well,they have a fair minds!They do not have a tribal intolerance minds at all! They all have open minds! I am a public officer! I knew all tribes in Sudan! Which ones are troublesome! and which one are not troublesome!They will never join ongoing senseless killing that was brewed from the ruling party in SPLM in the government in the South Sudan.They will fight if Sudan common enemies put their legs again in their ancestors homelands in the soil in the South!

The ongoing internecine,is about POLITICISM! Nothing else! President Salva Kirr Mayardit,he is the troublemmaker most! Again,he is a true enemy of democracy most! Thank you! Back to you to the audience!

Abiko Dinka are not warriors but they are like roaring lion but they cannot stand their ground. Kiir perpetuate December 15 to protect the interest of Jieng community but he didn’t know that it will result to out break of tribal war. South Sudan minus Kiir and other blood suckers is equal to peace, stability, Justice, freedom of expression and prosperity.

If Kiir placed the interests of South Sudan above all other interests including his own, South Sudan would be a model country respecting peace, stability, Justice, freedom of expression and prosperity as you rightly state.
M. Akulia

Lofu Lo Loku, you said “South Sudan minus Kiir and other blood suckers is equal to peace, stability, Justice, freedom of Expression and prosperity.” Now the question is; how can you have peace, stability, justice, freedom of expression and prosperity when you’re even shy to mention those you termed as “blood suckers”? How can you be an imaginary mediator when you can’t even acknowledge the other side’s wrongdoing? Whatever you said above is not going to happened when you only condemn one side and that’s one of the truth and realities you need to know!

Before the outbreak of this senseless war, was anybody killed in Bentiu, Akobo, Bor, and Malakal? Of course not! No that there is no smoke without fire. The root cause of it all is to blame and the prepetrator owns the whole package. You can disagree but it is the reality, many of us believe that Kiir is the sole prepetrator of this mess, had he not unleashed his tribal militias on Nuer civilians in Juba, our Dinkas brothers and sisters who were murdered in the course of revenge wouldn’t have had deceased unnecesarily. Hence, blaming Lofu Lo Loku for stating the truth is outlandish. Kiir is the mother of all evils that killed and continues to kill our people today, both Nuers and Dinkas. Thus, there is no other side to blame. Did he consults us when he staged a Coup on his own government? Absolutely not! It is understood that you want Lofu Lo Loku to blame Dr. Machar even though Machar isn’t the culprit. What a world we live in!

look all people are talking are hatred wording and does not represent citizen of the Republic of South Sudan otherwise what happened had hapened and need to be resolved and that is all those who are preaching hatred among our selves do not what really is the root cause of the war they need to do more research before any thing

Sir, Chief Abiko,
Your response to Lofu Lo Loku made a lots sense. I think he is after Dinka instead of national issues. And I am really not going to pay much attention to him because he is not a threat to one for the fact that his words stay on the website. Thanks!

guys we need a solution for what happen in our country. but the way I look to your comment is that you guys don’t a peaceful solution. that mean you are a part of problem instead to be a part of solution. someone mentioned that Nuer civilian even age of 9 yeas were been kill by Salva Kiir Dinka Militias. the question is why Dinka kill 9 yeas old child and leave the elders Nuer who are in the government with Kiir? that is not true. South Sudan is for all Southerners.

This is true Morthon, don’t deny it because you are a dinka, it is was a revenge for what happened in the pass between the two rivals communities, during our struggle in 1991. And the revenge often make people blind they couldn’t be able to differentiate between the innocent children and the adults, because the mind set objectives of revenge was just to kill any one who ever comes in front of both parties, whether they are children or not. This took me back to our first struggle in 1965 when the Arabs attempted to kill Southerners in the cities like Juba. during that period Arabs used to take infant children from the villages mothers, who came to the cities to buy some of their needs and hit those children heads on the grounds. You see there was no different between the Arabs, our enemies and the killers of our people in this illogical war. The killers before and now are sharing the same mind set objectives of revenge. The motives for the Arabs, Kirr, and Machar is one, those infant and children are their enemies, and they are a probable cause of danger in the future. So they have to be eliminated by killing them to avoid their support to who ever rebelled against who. We disagree to agree is the healthy culture of civilize people. Take care.

Dear Conversant,re-mentioning all sorts of threats like killings,threats, revenges …are words that can make the victims realize the whys, whens, whats and the like to continue developing.
Please, if you are among peace makers use the opposite of these words, so that the opposite of war take the lead.
In my opinion, it is not the making of the two warriors that causes the crisis to continue in South Sudan, but it is the spirit of ignorance and the love of devilish practice by 90% of the victims who believe that revenge can bring forth peace in South Sudan.
Teach them to confess their ignorance and accept civilization as the only weapon to bring peace in South Sudan, otherwise perish is the last word which will take lead in South Sudan.

If we want peace in our country, we must learn from South Africa. When Nelson Mandela came to power, he first appealed to his people to forget what happened and look to the interest of the country first. After the peace agreement, then all south Africans came to sit down for truth and reconciliation processes to establish what happened during the apartheid era. In our situation, people have their hidden agenda, that is why we can not come up with any peaceful solution to our conflict. Blames and finger pointing can not help us bring peace to our country. We will always not be neutral if we side with one side of the story. In a full democracy where a rule of law is a practised a person alleged to have committed a crime will always be taken innocent until proven in the court of a law. Lets us first work for peace and deal with the issue of what happened in our country until the truth and reconciliation truth committee dig out what happened in our country and who did it. I think it is unfair for us to belief that , the killings in the other areas should not be condemned because killings have occurred in Juba. Those who committed all those crimes will be held accountable whether it is a pre-mediated killings or revenge killings. Lets work for peace first if we love our country as the South Africans did in their country. When the atmosphere is later good, we will be able to find the killers. For the seek of our children, lets first leave those issues aside until we become one people as we were during the fight for liberation. If we can correct our mistakes in a peaceful way, it will help us to avert the unfolding human misery we are inflicting on our people. Many nations have over came their differences, why is our differences becoming difficult to overcome? Conflict of interest is the worst enemy of peace and stereotypes, hate speeches, tribal mind set and political immaturity will only continue to divide us. Politics should not be based on personal differences but it should be based on ideological political differences on how to move our country forward. Lack of political maturity will always lead us to apply cheap politics of tribalism and yet we know we can not be united if one tribe is left out. Some of us are the one fuelling the war in our country because we are not talking about the real peace issues. Instead we are unlashing our own hatred against each other. In addition, lies destroy trust among us, proudness and assuming things will lead us to believe that , we can win militarily . so until we move away from all these evils, there will be no peace and we will continue to prolong the suffering of our people